


Just a legacy to protect

by Kasuna_Kotonoha



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Duelling, F/M, Hamilton shoots Burr, He roasts Hamilton, Jefferson is sort of okay, She's awesome, So does Theodosia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:00:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23111362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kasuna_Kotonoha/pseuds/Kasuna_Kotonoha
Summary: Within forty-eight hours, all the newspapers in the country sport the headline “Vice President Aaron Burr killed in duel by former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton”.“You killed the Vice President, Hamilton. *My* Vice President. I know I wasn’t the nicest to Aaron, but he made it farther than you ever will.” If it had been available, Alexander was sure Jefferson would have taken a sip of tea right then.
Relationships: Aaron Burr/Theodosia Prevost Burr, Alexander Hamilton/Elizabeth "Eliza" Schuyler, Theodosia Burr Alston/Philip Hamilton
Comments: 3
Kudos: 74





	Just a legacy to protect

Burr gasped when he felt the bullet rip through his abdomen. Blood blossomed from the wound, staining his coat and hands a dark red. Van Ness’s frantic footsteps could be heard drawing nearer, and Burr glanced up briefly to see Pendleton usher Hamilton away. 

The pain, while still acute and sharp at times, has mostly become a dull throb. The row back across the Hudson is vague and blurred, punctuated only by the occasional jostle that agitates the wound and everything becomes momentarily clear.

When they get to his house, Theodosia is somehow already there. The moment he is laid down she is at his side, sobbing and clutching his hand while her husband looks on.

She starts to ramble, but she doesn’t care. Vaguely, she registers her husband leave, but it’s just as soon forgotten.

***

Philip Burr-Hamilton stood in the corner, his twin daughters Esther and Sarah “Sally” in his arms. They are just barely two years old, too young to understand the concept of death, but old enough to know something is wrong. Theo has knelt at her father’s bedside, and Philip knows enough to know he won’t survive. 

He takes the children and lets his wife be alone with her father. Van Ness is waiting in the sitting room, and both of them know the exact moment Aaron Burr passes by the way Theodosia screams.

***

Within forty-eight hours, all the newspapers in the country sport the headline **“Vice President Aaron Burr killed in duel by former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton”**. 

Alex can’t say he’s surprised by the speed at which the news spread, but Eliza is furious when she reads it. He doesn’t say anything, even if he’d like to, because that would only serve to piss off Eliza even more. 

She, Angelica, and the children are invited by Philip and Theodosia to the funeral.

He is not.

In a way, he’s glad. He’s not sure he could bear to see Philip right now.

After the fact, Eliza takes the kids, sans Philip, up to Albany while he is left behind.

Three days after his wife’s departure, there is a knock on the door. When he opens it, he sees Theodosia, dressed all in black.

“May I come in?” Her voice is clipped, but he nods and steps aside to let his daughter-in-law in.

She sweeps into the sitting room and reaches into the folds of her dress, procuring two letters.

“My father wanted me to give these to you.”

He takes the letters. Signed on the front of both is his name, written in an all too familiar script.

“Thank you.”

“I’m not doing this because I want to. If it were my choice, I’d have kept them myself. As it is, it was requested in my father's will that these letters come into your possession.”

He nods, and it is silent until-

“Do you regret it?”

-Theodosia breaks it, her voice deadly soft. She says nothing else, but what she is referring to is clear.

Alexander sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. “Were it in my power to take back that bullet, I would.”

“And all the things you said about him prior? You publicly slandered him when he had done nothing against you.” His daughter-in-law's tone is eerily similar to Angelica; sharp, cool, a warning. It’s a reminder that he knows exactly what he _should_ say, but when has he ever done that?

He’s not Burr.

“I will not equivocate on my opinion, Theodosia, you know that. While I would gladly take back that accursed bullet, I cannot bring myself to regret nor retract what I said.”

Theo’s dark eyes narrow, and he is suddenly struck by how similar they are to her fathers.

“And why is that?” She is giving him one last chance to backtrack, both of them know it, but they also know he won’t take it.

“I have always been very clear and set in my opinions, and have never said something I didn’t believe was true. Worn it on my sleeve, as it were. As I’ve said, I believe your father to be far too lax in his stance on matters.”

“Just because my father doesn’t shout his opinions for the world to know doesn’t mean he has none.” Theodosia’s voice is icy and her posture stiff. “I feel that if you actually bothered to ask, he would have gladly told you. If there’s one thing you could stand to learn from him, it's the virtue of patience and observation.”

She stood up abruptly, “I find your inability to admit any wrongdoings rather disconcerting. While you may be free of any murder charges, you have destroyed any possibility of goodwill between our families. I must be going. Good day, sir.”

Her last sentence is said with a biting edge, and it's with a start that he remembers.

Her mother had died about ten years ago, and now her father was dead too

Theodosia is an orphan now, and it’s by his own hands.

God damn.

***

It takes Angelica Hamilton a month to convince her mother to let her and her siblings visit Philip and Theodosia.

It’s not like she’s a child. She’s twenty, for god's sake! And AJ and James are eighteen and sixteen, old enough and responsible enough to help.

The carriage ride itself wasn’t very long, only a few hours. The Burr-Hamilton house is on the outskirts of the city and is sizable, but not huge.

Her sibling's troop behind her as she walks up to the door and knocks.

The first thing she notices is how tired Theo looks. Her eyes lack their usual gleam, but when she sees her, they light up.

“Angie!”

She embraces her best friend for a minute before ushering them inside. 

“How are the girls?”

Theo smiles faintly “They’re doing wonderful. Philip took them to the park about an hour ago, so they should be back soon.”

A few weeks later, their mother joins them.

***

Eliza Hamilton, Theodosia thinks, is the literal embodiment of kindness and caring. She takes the twins off her hands, at least some of the time, and she couldn't be more grateful.

***

A week after Theodosia’s visit, there is another knock on Hamilton’s door.

To his surprise, it’s Thomas Jefferson who stands behind it. He walks in without saying a word and heads to the sitting room.

He had barely sat down himself when Jefferson speaks.

“Congratulations.”

His face was mostly deadpan, except for the predatory gleam in his eyes.

“You have invented a new kind of stupid.”

It takes him a moment to realize what Jefferson is getting at.

“A damage you can never undo kind of stupid.” Jefferson is sneering now, eyes narrowed.

“An ‘open all the cages in the zoo’ kind of stupid. Truly, you did not think this through, kind of stupid!”

“Thomas-“

“Don’t utter a single word, Hamilton. Nothing you say is going to help you.”

Jefferson leaned back in his chair, looking far older than he’d ever seen him.

“James is in over his head, you know, trying to run two departments at once. Dolley is trying to help, but there’s only so much she can do.

Hamilton starts to say something, but Jefferson raises a finger. “You killed the Vice President, Hamilton. _My_ Vice President. I know I wasn’t the nicest to Aaron, but he made it farther than you ever will.”

If it had been available, Alexander was sure Jefferson would have taken a sip of tea right then.

“You took a good man away from his family, your own daughter-in-law, and from the American people. Even I wouldn’t be so stupid as to do that. You won’t be charged for murder, but if it were up to me or Mrs.Burr, you would.”

Thomas stood up and brushed off his coat. His expression was a mixture of disgust, contempt, and disappointment, and his voice was cold.

“I sure hope you’re satisfied.”

***

Two months pass before Alexander sees his eldest son again. He visits alone, still dressed in black like his wife.

“Hey, dad.”

As with so many other visitors, he goes to the sitting room.

Philip sighs, his face a mix of conflicting emotions. “You know, I really ought to be mad at you.”

He stares blankly at his son. “What?”

Philip gives him a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “You killed someone, dad, yet I can’t find it in myself to be angry at you. Disappointed, yes, but not angry.”

Somehow, that’s even worse.

***

The next couple of years find Theodosia struggling to get out of bed in the mornings. If it weren’t for Philip, Esther, and Sally, she’s not sure she would.

Eliza spends most of her time at her family's house upstate or with Philip and Theo. She spends very little time with her husband.

Over time, her father's things had been sold off to pay his debts, and after the fact, there were only some heirlooms, other keepsakes, and a few boxes of her father's correspondences and work to be given to her.

She was grateful they had come into her possession. She knew her father would hate his letters ending up in the wrong hands.

Slowly but surely, Aaron Burr begins to fade into the background. Alexander Hamilton's reputation begins to repair itself as the incident is swept under the rug and forgotten.

His relationship with his eldest son and daughter-in-law is forever ruined.

It occurs to her one day that her father's legacy is in danger of being forgotten. She can’t have that. With Philips's help, she starts what is to be the biggest undertaking she’s ever done.

She starts by reading through and sorting all her father's papers. Then she writes letters to all those he’s written to and asks them to send her any letters of his they may have. She also asks them to write to anyone they may know who would have some as well.

Over the next few months, boxes of letters arrive and those get read and sorted as well. Once that’s done, she sits down and prepares for the Hamilton she’s about to pull. 

It takes several weeks and a lot of ink, but when she’s done writing, she feels immense satisfaction.

Phillips siblings and Eliza join them at the Hermitage to celebrate the completion of her father's autobiography 

***

March; 2020

Tiana Brooks was waiting in the doctor's office, bored out of her mind, when she saw something that caught her eye. It was a history magazine, which normally didn’t interest her, but this one did. The big story on the front was simply titled “My Dear Theodosia”

She picked it up and flipped to the corresponding page.

_“Aaron Burr is best known for being the only Vice President to be killed in office. He was fatally shot in a duel by former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton._

_His daughter Theodosia, named after her late mother, was particularly close to him, and despite being married to Alexander Hamilton’s eldest son, Philip, she had no issues being vocal in her hate for him._

_A few years after her father’s death, she wrote and published an autobiography about him, simply entitled “Aaron Burr”_

_Some historians believe it is her efforts that prevented much of his history from being lost or forgotten. Others have noted with interest that Mrs.Burrs account is remarkably unbiased…”_

“Tiana?” A nurse called her name and she set the magazine down, but the name Theodosia remained in the back of her mind.

Something about it just seemed so familiar, but she wasn’t sure what.

Perhaps she just had to wait.


End file.
